Paul Mannet

Below is a ranking of schools that are 100% online, ranked by tuition rates from most to least expensive, Information primarily sourced from National Center for Education Statistics. Additional info from other private college rating groups is also included.

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“All knowledge is sterile which does not lead to action and end in charity.”
– Cardinal Desire Joseph Mercier

“Learn the lesson that, if you are to do the work of a prophet, what you need is not a scepter but a hoe.”
– Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

“The Catholic school’s proper function is to create for the school community a special atmosphere animated by the Gospel spirit of freedom and charity, to help youth grow according to the new creatures they were made through baptism as they develop their own personalities, and finally to order the whole of human culture to the news of salvation so that the knowledge the students gradually acquire of the world, life and man is illumined by faith.”
– His Holiness Pope Paul VI, October 28, 1965

“It has been said that some of the great geniuses of the past never read half as much as the mediocre geniuses today, but what they read they understood and incorporated into a deeper dimension of knowledge.”
– Cardinal Desire Joseph Mercier

“The entire effort of the Catholic teacher is oriented toward an integral formation of each student.”
– William Cardinal Baum

“Study fatigues and wearies the mind and heart. Go from time to time to refresh them at the feet of Jesus Christ under the cross; some moments of repose in His sacred wounds give fresh vigor and new lights. “
– Saint Vincent Ferrer

“Ultimately, the idea of a Catholic University is about the mission to form students to become holy, saintly, well-educated, productive members of the Church and society.”
– Rev. Leonard A. Kennedy, “How to Keep Your University Catholic”

“From time to time friends outside the [Roman Catholic] Church consult me. They are attracted by certain features, repelled or puzzled by others. To them I can only say, from my own experience: ‘Come inside. You cannot know what the Church is like from outside. However learned you are in theology, nothing you know amounts to anything in comparison with the knowledge of the simplest actual member of the Communion of Saints.’ “
– Evelyn Waugh, English novelist after his conversion to Catholicism from Anglicanism

“In fact it must never be forgotten that the subject of Christian education is man whole and entire, soul united to body in unity of nature, with all his faculties natural and supernatural, such as right reason and revelation show him to be…”
– His Holiness Pope Pius XI, “Divini lllius Magistri,” 1929

Click To A List Of Schools With Online Programs

If you’re concerned with making sure your online degree is respected, you might consider this list of respected, mostly older schools that offer online degree and certificate programs. There are many newer schools that are completely legitimate and reputable with employers. But if you like the brand-name of a college that’s considered reputable by even the most conservative employers, there are more and more opportunities all the time to get a degree online from from many of the older, highly respected schools around the country that have starting offering online education.

The schools listed here are, in most cases, reputable older schools like Quinnipiac. There are also some names like Georgetown and Purdue, which are respected nationally and even internationally. Many of these schools continue to focus mainly on their campus students, and offer only a few specialized online degrees or certificate programs (executive MBA’s are a particularly popular online offering with prestigous older schools).

Here, in alphabetical order, is a list of respected, older colleges and universities offering online degrees.

BOSTON UNIVERSITY
Boston University is a massive private school (with 30,000 plus undergrad and grad students) that’s a favorite of the children of affluent northeastern families. While not as famous as Harvard (which BU students call “that school on the other side of the river”), it has a list of alumni that stretches all the way from radio personality Howard Stern to Martin Luther King, who attended BU’s divinity school. BU grads can be found in the upper reaches of just about every business sector.
BU moved gradually into online education a few years ago, but has now developed a more diverse offering of online degrees at the master’s level:
– Master of Arts in Art Education
– Master of Science in Criminal Justice
– Master of Science in Business Continuity
– Master of Criminal Justice
– Master of Banking & Financial Management
– Master of Science in Insurance Management
– Master of Science in Project Management
Get information on Boston University

PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY
Pepperdine, based on lovely Malibu, California, is one of the better known names among west coast schools. It has about 7,500 students, and is listed as a “selective” university by U.S. News & World Report:
– Master of Business Administration
Get information on Pepperdine

CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY
Creghton is an old Jesuit (Catholic) school in Nebraska that has just under 8,000 graduate and undergraduate students, and has a strong reputation in the midwest particularly. It’s been ranked as the most credible school in it’s region by several publications. Creighton specializes in just two online programs:
– Doctor of Interdisciplinary Learning
– Master of Public Health – Public Health Services Administration
– Master of Public Health – Health Policy & Ethics
Get information on Creighton

PURDUE UNIVERSITY
Purdue, an Indiana-based school founded back in 1869, is one of the most most reputable universities in the U.S. It has several famous alumni including Neil Armstrong, the first human on the moon, and it currently serves almost 40,000 students, including an unusually high percentage of foreign students. Purdue is a recent entry into digital learning. At present it offers just one online degree, a master’s:
– Master of Science in Communication
Get information on Purdue University

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (USC)
USC is a private non-profit school in Los Angeles, CA that has, in addition to it’s famous football team, a strong national reputation for academics that attracts a wide diversity of students from across the U.S. The school is considered a research institution. It’s massive health care school and facilities are familiar fixtures to residents of LA. USC’s school of education was founded in 1880. It currently offers a variety of master’s degrees online:
– Executive Master of Health Administration
– Master of Aging Services Management or Master of Arts in Gerontology
– Master of Library & Information Science – several specialties
– Master of Science in Applied Psychology – multiple specialties
– Master of Social Work – Health, Families & Children and other specialties
Get information on USC’s online degree programs

VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY
Villanova is a large Catholic school established in Pennsylvania in the mid-1800’s. It has a large network of influential alumni, particularly in the northeast. It’s online programs are at the master’s level and focus on business.:
– Master of Business Administration
– Master of Taxation
– Master of Laws in Taxation
Get information on Villanova’s online programs

BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
Brandeis is a private research university named after Louis Brandeis, a famous supreme court justice. It’s based in Waltham, MA and has about 5,600 undergrad and graduate students. Brandeis is highly ranked in many college surveys:
– Master of Science Information Security
– Master of Science Information Technology Management
– Master of Science in Project & Program Management
Get information on Brandeis

BENEDICTINE UNIVERSITY
Benedictine is a Catholic University in the Chicago area that’s operated since the late 1800’s. It has colleges of Education, Professional Studies, Business, Science and Liberal Arts. U.S. News & World Report has ranked it in the top 40 of best universities for a master’s degree in the U.S. The school offers two nursing master’s degrees online:
– Master of Science in Nursing – Nurse Educator
– Master of Science in Nursing – Nurse Executive Leader
Get information on Benedictine University